The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1887-11-03

''Uh. yes. except hogs." replied the
father. Lord yes Hogs don'tmind
rattlesnakes any more than mind
1ies. | had an old SOW once-do you
mind old Jennie. Bob" -that was a
regular terror n rattlesnakes She
could end the trail Of one as surely as
. hound can find the deer's track. and
she'd follow that trail ill she came up
with the snake that made e. and then
the RATHER was her meat She
didn't seem 20 care for any other kind
Of snake. but she'd hunt rattlers from
the beginning Of the season till the
end II l could have taught that pig
10 retrieve she'd have been worth a
good deal 70 me. for the number Of
snakes she'd have brought in during
the season would have been immense;
but she wasn't on the retrieve. She
was hunting for her own accommOda-
ton, and ate every snake she caught,
leaving only the head. used to find
90 many rattlesnake heads on my tours
through the woods that il began to
dawn on me that my old SOW was
working dead against me by destroy
ing the snake crop. and I was finally
forced 70 kill her for my own protee-
don.
II have tried the effect Of Nieode-
mus bite on many different animals
and birds, aud with the exception Of
he bantam and a cur dog that l eX-
perimented on. every one Of them died.
some very soon after being bitten. and
some not until three or four days had
passed. / am sorry to say that Nico-
demus has a record Of one man. too.
on his list of victims As = general
thing. do not believe that the bite Of
a rattlesnake will result fatally to hui
man beings. but il did IN this case.
The mans name was Flint. and Il was
all his own fault that he was bites
He was one Of those over-courageous.
smart fellows, who think they can do
any thing. lie was az my place one
day and got 10 teasing the snake. Fl
nally he pokcd his finger through one
OF the meshes Of the wire At NicOde-
mus When a r,ttlesnake strikes it
never misses its mark II what il strikes
at is within reach. There j. no move
ment IN the world quicker than a rat
tlesnake's strike. The snake struck at
Flint's finger and. Of course. hit IT, In
two hours the man was dead. ] hadn' {
8 drop Of whisky in the house, and be-
fore it was possible 10 send aud get
some Flint was dead.
"a human being seems 70 be the only
creature that suffers pain from rattle
snakes bite. Every other living thing
that ever saw bitten by rattlesnake
seemed To act as il II had been chloro
formed You can hardly see where q
snake fangs enter the flesh and not q
drop Of blood flows from the wound
Inflammation SETS in NJ once; the breath
begins to come hard and short In ami
mails paralysis soon occurs in the hind
parts The blood leaves the extremi-
ties and becomes thin. The heart Of any
animal that dies from rattlesnake poi
son will always be found filed with
blood in a thin huid state instead Of he
ing coagulated.
Il am firm believer in whisky as an
antidote for rattlesnake poisoning.
have known seven different cases OF
persons being bitten by rattlers where
whisky was administered promptly and
literally. and not one was taisl. Be
sides the case Of the man whom my
snake killed know Of two Others
where the victims died. They were
both treated by doctors, but whisky
was not used in either case.
When any one tells you that
snakes age can be told by the number
Of its rattles. don't believe it. I've
caught snakes two feet long that had
more rattles than others twice their
size. Ny pet rattlesnake is eleven
years old. and he has fourteen as nice
rsttles as any snake fanoier ever saw.
besides beauty Of button at the end
Of EN-. It's a very rare case, too.
where a rattlesnake gets to be more
han four feet long in this latitude. ~
" Y Times.